La mediación de conflictos y sus aportaciones al cambio sociocultural de la familia mexicana

Mexican families have experienced constant changes since the last century, mainly related to the composition of families, roles attributed to each member, especially gender roles, and the bonding process among generations coexisting in a living unit. In addition, there are other changes related to larger-scale social change phenomena, such as migration from rural to urban areas and migration abroad that has divided families. And the cultural diversity of the country is characterized by contradictions between traditional behaviour and the modern Mexican context. All these changes represent challenges to 21st-century families who must search for strategies to favour personal interactions and their relationship with a changing context. A key element to maintaining family well-being is communication needed to express needs, demonstrate affection and bond, and is essential to peaceful conflict management. In this regard, alternative conflict resolution methods, particularly mediation, are considered helpful mechanisms to enhance communication among family members. Through mediation, an impartial third party assists families to improve and implement their communication abilities aimed at decision making and internal conflict management. Therefore, mediation is a significant resource to develop intrafamily communication and to strengthen healthy family development. El cambio social de la familia mexicana es una constante que acompaña los procesos de transformación social desde el Siglo XX hasta la actualidad. El cambio social en la familia se constata principalmente en la configuración familiar o arreglos familiares; los roles atribuidos a cada miembro, especialmente de género; y en los procesos de vinculación intergeneracional en las unidades de convivencia. Pero, además de estos elementos, se consideran determinantes y, en cierto modo característicos de las familias mexicanas, los que refieren a los fenómenos migratorios que han dividido familias; los procesos de traslado del espacio rural a las ciudades; así como la diversidad étnica como elemento garante de las tradiciones culturales a pesar de la continua contradicción con el contexto mexicano más moderno. Todos estos cambios suponen un importante reto para las familias del siglo XXI que deberán esforzarse para buscar estrategias que favorezcan sus interacciones personales y su relación con el contexto cambiante en el que se desarrollan. Un elemento clave para el mantenimiento del bienestar familiar es la comunicación familiar interna, que servirá de base para la transmisión de necesidades, la demostración del afecto y el vínculo, además de mecanismo para la negociación de conflictos de forma pacífica y constructiva. Para potenciar la comunicación en la familia, los Métodos Alternos de la Solución de Conflictos, en particular la Mediación, se conciben como un espacio neutral donde la familia será asistida por un tercero imparcial para desarrollar, mejorar e implementar sus habilidades comunicativas dirigidas a la toma de decisiones conjunta para la gestión de conflictos internos. Así pues, la Mediación contribuye como recurso externo al desarrollo de la comunicación intrafamiliar para lograr el fortalecimiento familiar y su desarrollo positivo.

Casa de la Asegurada: A Collective Housing Facility for Women Development in Mexico

While several women’s movements that aimed to modify their relationship with public space were taking place across the world, in 1956, the Mexican Social Security Institute founded the program Casa de la Asegurada, the subject of this study, as a tool for improving the social security of Mexican families through the input of cultural, social, artistic, and hygienic knowledge for women. The program’s facilities, Casas de la Asegurada, are located in the large Mexican housing complexes, articulating themselves to the existing city. Despite the impact on the lives of Mexican families, these have been ignored throughout the history of Mexican architecture. The main objective of this paper is to show the state of the art of Casa de la Asegurada and its facilities located in Mexico City. To achieve this, the greatest number available of primary sources on the topic was compiled through archive and document research. Sources were classified identifying information gaps to explain, in three different scales (program, facilities, and a case study), how they work through their objectives, performed activities, and evolved through time, so that the gathered information is analyzed with an urbanistic, architectural, and gender approach to contribute new ideas in the building of facilities that allow women empowerment.

Privilege Accumulation Among Upper Middle-Class Youth in Mexico

This chapter demonstrates how upper middle-class Mexican families mobilize a vast array of social, cultural, and economic resources to expand their children’s opportunities in life and ensure the intergenerational transmission of their social position. The authors analyze salient characteristics of families’ socioeconomic and demographics in the life histories of a group of young Mexicans from an upper middle-class background. Many believe that micro-social processes, especially surrounding education, are key to understanding how upper-class families mobilize their various resources to shape their children’s life trajectories. These families accumulate social advantages over time that accrue to their progeny and benefit them upon their entrance to the labor market.

Reconstruyendo vidas: las proyecciones sobre una nueva estructura de vivienda colectiva vertical en el multifamiliar de Tlalpan, México, 2019

El Multifamiliar Tlalpan fue un proyecto de vivienda realizado por el gobierno mexicano del presidenteMiguel Alemán (1945 y 1960). Y si bien soportó dos sismos (1957 y 1985), con el del 19 de septiembre del2017 colapsó debido al desgaste natural propio de su antigüedad (más de 60 años) y las secuelas de los dossismos mencionados. El Edificio 1C fue el más afectado, aunque, gracias a la actuación inmediata de unasociedad involucrada y activa, autoridades responsables e instituciones comprometidas con las necesidades de las personas damnificadas, las consecuencias no fueron tan graves. Es que, por primera vez en la historia mexicana, se forjó un compromiso y una organización coordinada nuevas viviendas colaborativas verticales sostenibles, la construcción del patrimonio de las familias mexicanas que lo perdieron todo, y el acompañamiento desde lo social y emocional que representa todavía para muchos esta desgracia.Palabras Clave: Sostenibilidad, co-responsabilidad, viviendas colaborativas, intergeneracional. AbstractMultifamiliar Tlalpan was a housing project carried out by the Mexican government of President Miguel Aleman (1945 and 1960). Although it endured two earthquakes (1957 and 1985), with the one of September 19, 2017, it collapsed due to the natural deterioration proper to its antiquity (more than 60 years) and the consequences of the two earthquakes mentioned. Building 1C was the most affected, although, due to the immediate action of an involved and active society, responsible authorities and institutions committed to the needs of the people affected, the consequences were not so serious. This is because, for the first time in Mexican history, a commitment was forged and a coordinated organization that co-responsibly carries out the generation of new sustainable vertical collaborative housing, the construction of the heritage of Mexican families that lost everything, and the accompaniment from the social and emotional side that this misfortune still represents for many.Keywords: Sustainability, Co-responsibility, Co-housing, intergenerational.

Gendered Patterns of Remitting and Saving among Mexican Families with U.S. Migration Experience

This article explores patterns of remittance sending among male and female migrants from Mexico to the United States, and patterns in the use of remittances among receiving households in Mexico. It also identifies variables that determine remittance sending and saving behaviors in migrants’ most recent U.S. trip. Results reveal gendered differences in the investment and consumption strategies adopted by families in communities of origin. Despite marked differences in the capacity of women to generate remittances and savings compared with men, patterns of remittance use by families in communities of origin are not substantially distinct, though female migrants are more likely to send remittances for investments in human capital than male migrants. In addition, remittances and savings sent by male migrants are more likely to be used in housing improvements and investments in productive capital than those sent by women. These differences do not necessarily reflect migrants’ preferences, but mirror the sociocultural contexts in which decision-making about remittances, savings, and spending take place.

Who Goes Next? The Gendered Expansion of Mexican and Senegalese Migrant Sibling Networks in Space and Time

The migration literature shows that individuals whose siblings have migrated abroad are more likely to migrate, yet we know little about sibling migrant networks. We use MMP and MAFE-Senegal survey data to compare migration patterns in two very disparate contexts (Mexico and Senegal) in an attempt to assess the scope, manner, and generalizability of sibling network migration patterns. Our results show that while Senegalese families are likely to have one international migrant, Mexican families are likely to send two or more members abroad. Sibling migrations from Mexico fall closer together in time than do those from Senegal, suggesting joint sibling migration. Also, while Mexican sibling networks did not seem to contribute to the expansion of Mexican migrant destinations, Senegalese sibling networks did contribute (slightly) to the expansion of Senegalese migration. Sibling networks in both settings contributed considerably to the feminization of migration.